Are Compliment Pages A Step Towards Getting Rid Of Online Bullying?

This just might be the sweetest thing I’ll read this week: Pennsylvania State University has become the newest college to create a compliments page on Facebook. What exactly is a compliments page? Well, it’s a Facebook page full of compliments, obviously! Is there any other Facebook page that sounds as happy and loving as this one? I don’t think so.

This Penn State compliments page is totally anonymous – students send private messages to the Facebook page with their compliment and the name of the person they’re complimenting. The sweet words then get posted onto the page, where students can check out if anything was said about them or their friends. How awesome is this? Imagine a day you’re feeling totally down and bummed out, but then you log onto your school’s compliments page and find out that someone said something super sweet about you. If that doesn’t lift your spirits, I don’t know what will.

I love this idea because it’s such a simple way to make people smile. Everyone obviously loves hearing compliments – even if it’s something small, like, “I love that shirt!”, it still has the power to cheer you up and lift your confidence for at least a little while. Not only that, but giving out compliments can make you happier also. The other really cool thing is the anonymous factor – you don’t know who said that nice thing about you, and it’s cool to feel like you might have a secret admirer wandering around out there. Dedicating an entire page to love and good feelings might sound a little corny to some people, but I think it can bring some much-needed kindness to a world that can sometimes be scary and mean.

Penn State isn’t the first college to do this, though – Time recently posted about the trend, which started in Queen’s University in Ontario, and a few other colleges have followed in those footsteps. Who else agrees that high schools need to get in on this trend?

So, could compliment pages be the end of online bullying? I don’t think they have the power to squash online meanies for good (although I wish they did), but I do think it’s an awesome step in the right direction. A huge pro to this site is that you can’t just post whatever you want on the wall, since it’s moderated. That means that there’s very little chance of nasty messages making their way on there.

One thing we can take from this? A compliment can seriously improve someone’s day – so start giving them out more often!

Do you think this is a great idea? Do you wish your school had one of these? Who would you compliment if they did? Tell us in the comments!